On this blog I'll post a daily forecast/report of the surf/windsurf conditions in Maui.
Email me if you need to rent a place in Maui or if you need a surf, SUP, foil or windsurf lesson.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

new SUP camera mount

I tested it yesterday and it works great!

Here's what I did. I put two stripes of industrial strength adhesive velcro on the front of the board (you can find it at ACE harware). I shaped a piece of clarkfoam like an H, so that I could wrap the camera around it. I glued (epoxy) the velcro counterpart on the bottom of the H. Et voila'!

The velcro is incredibly strong and it didn't come off in some waiste high shorebreak. I actually think that in a big wipeout, the epoxy resin and/or the foam may give up before the velcro... so I don't think I'll take it out in big surf. UNLESS... I put a leash plug on the front of the board, so that I can secure a safety line to the camera. Crazy as I am, it's actually quite possible that I will do that... and that means that you guys will sooner or later score some epic stuff on my blog. I could even put it on my 9.0... Here's another detail.

I'm also thinking about shaping an extra piece of foam and sticking it (still with velcro) on top of the mount, so to protect the camera from the mast when sailing... but I first want to check if it's worth it. I mean, if the sailing videos from the front of the board will be worth it. In the meantime, here's a little video of those three waves that I caugth during the test.

In case you enjoyed the fall, here it is again...

Ah, one more thing.Do you think my Jimmy Lewis will ever be in the water again?

14 comments:

Anonymous
said...

The slow backwards fall reminded me of that scene in Die Hard where the bad guy falls off the building. However, you look like a surfer not terrorist. The leash is a good idea on the camera, in case you get any shots of me... I don't want them lost :) MB

No worries Bob. I just ordered two of these glue-on leash attachments... http://www.ofishl.com/systems/plugs.html

Sharon,how about as a hide-a-key spot before going sailing? Just always take some instant epoxy with you and a router for when you're done...

Robin,I don't blame you, but with a leash plug it should be ok. Wait for my feedbacks though, and you'll know how easily it will detach. The think actually looked extremely sturdy.The JL is quite a desperate attempt. I asked two experts this morning and their first reaction was to indicate me the closest dumpster... we'll see...

Paupau,if you scroll down on this blog (or check the archive) there's plenty videos of SUP surfing. And you'll see that the best way to shoot the wave is to shoot backwards. Check this one, for example http://mauisurfreport.blogspot.com/2007/08/sup-surfing-at-thousand-peaks.html (c'ha pure i Litfiba...). There's a little clip from the ankle camera... mmm, not so good.So what you are looking at (behind my body parts) ARE hawaiian waves. Small kind, but still hawaiian. When I'll receive the leash plugs I may start taking videos of regular and SUP surfing in bigger waves...But I'm not a big waves junkie. I mean, I can surf bigger, but the size I enjoy most is head high...

There's this spray-can foam you can get at Lowe's or Home Depot. It's used for filling the gaps in window frames. Quick-setting, lightweight, strong enough for government work - and, cheap. The setup will be a little bit tricky. You'll want some formica stringers along either side of the mast-track box. The store should have some scraps you can cut to fit. Done right, this should give you a few more speed runs - all you need, right? Just don't flatland any stall loops.

By the way, I picked a nice-looking board out of a Kanaha dumpster today. Amazing what people leave behind. That's after I picked a nice sail out of the garbage can on Wednesday. My winter wave setup is coming together...

Hahaa .. good one GP, nice mount too. Been hard at work on a few more mounts myself. Have you got the new firmware in the GoPro yet, makes a huge difference to the smoothness of the video? Checkout the two latest videos I've done with it.

http://tinyurl.com/2ho64yhttp://tinyurl.com/yqx44j

Hope you don't mind GP, i pinched your fav song for one of the soundtracks.

Anon 1,the cooler would be of small capacity (couple of beers), but a little big to take around... ok, maybe on the roofrack.

Anon 2,thanks for the tips, but I believe the expandable foam will bend the bottom of the board in the process.I'll go with a different technique... I'll document everything. First, I need the board to dry out...

Rambo,good job at "stealing" the song. Those guys rock.I didn't download any firmware, I thought it was only for the sound, which I don't particularly care.Plus, I'm so busy that I have the tendency to do only things that are strictly necessary...

Shoot the foam, then level the top surface, before laying up the top. The bottom will not bulge. Regardless, you may also wish to add a laminate layer to the bottom, for reinforcement. Make sure you perforate the new longitudinal stringers, in a grid pattern, circular holes approx. 2 cm. diam., spaced 5 to 7 cm at centers, to get lateral structural setting of the foam through the holes - a honeycomb technique. Note: at speed, or even in a normal planing jibe, the bottom underneath the mast track is clear out of the water. So, even if it did occur, some bulging would not be cause of concern for performance. Only when slogging would any effects of such a bulge be perceptible.

Another idea (consider this a formal invention report, precursor to a patent application, to be filed as soon as working prototype reduces it to practice): Lay up the entire core of the board with a bundle of pressurizable inflatable bladders (each one like the leading edge bladder of a kite, but smaller gauge), the entire bundle held together structurally in a matrix of semi-rigid lightweight foam. Devise a manifold system for convenient pressurization and depressurization of the bladders. Use Helium, or hydrogen, as the filling gas, for a "LIGHTER-THAN-AIR SAILBOARD." No jokes about the Hindenberg, or lead zeppelinos, please. Archimedes Principle be damned.

Anon,thanks for the great contribution! Too bad I didn't get most of it...

Never mind, here's what I think is going to work better.I'm gonna dig all the scrape styro foam out of the whole. Then I'm going to replace it with a better piece of the same kind of foam to fill the space between the existing mast box block (which I will entirely reuse, because it's high density foam in good shape) and the bottom of the board.I'm going to make the mast box block sit in a cradle of three layers of fiberglass cloth, (previously soaked in epoxy resin) that will vastly extend on the top of the board all around the mast box block.Of course, after it cures, I will add a few extra layers of fiberglass on top of the board.

Someone told me: never rely on the foam for strenght. It just gives the shape. The strenght is all given by the fiberglass.In other words, it's my belief that it's no big deal if there will be empty spaces inside the board, because the fiberglass cradle will be solidly anchored to the top of board.

The Ku Nalu (the original version of the Starboard 12.2) is a HOLLOW stand up board. In it's sailing version it has some reinforcement under the mast box, but still...

GP, the foam plug you put back in that houses the attachments should be the densest foam you can lay your hands on. Mark R from the Ding King should have an off-cut you can use. The fibreglass skin is only as good as the substrate it's bonded too and vis-versa.

Get some tips from this talented ladyhttp://www.boardlady.com/index.htm

cammar: i've tried that industrial velco and it's not that great. far better x 5 is this stufff by 3m called Dual Lock. brother, does that hold! you can get it at radio shack, where it's known as Superlock and is pretty expensive for a tiny little bit. i get mine on ebay. you can either stick it to itself or to Velcro (and when stuck to Velcro, its shear strength is incredible). just an fyi ...

Plenty availability of studios and apts in Paia and the north shore.

About Me

Born and raised in Italy, I became an engineer and worked 11 years in the IT industry. Sick of that, in 2001 I wanted to take a year off and spend it in Maui, the best windsurfing spot in the world. Not only I'm still here (in Maui), but I also got into surfing. And the stoke is flying high. Life is too short to work 8 hours a day...